The Curse of the Love Bug
by Griddlebone
Summary: For DistantDreamer07. When their friends start acting strangely, it's up to Trini and Kimberly to find out why... and put a stop to it before Rita's newest monster wreaks havoc on Angel Grove. Shameless fluff with a touch of angst. TommyxKim, JasonxTrini


Notes: This story goes out to DistantDreamer07, who left the 100th review for my story, _Coming Home_. Profuse thanks are also owed to PsycoChick32 for the poking, prodding, pleading, brain-storming, and problem-solving that helped me actually get this story written.

-x-

Today was one of those elusive very good days – it was sunny, warm and beautiful outside; she was having a _great _hair day; and tonight she was going to the dance with Tommy – and she was determined to enjoy every moment of it. Nothing was going to ruin this day. Nothing. Not homework, not the dance, not even one of Rita's stupid monsters.

She stashed her bag in her locker, collected her books and materials for her first class, and made a beeline for where Tommy was standing at his own locker. After he had asked her to go to the dance with him, he had not given her the slightest clue about any other plans he might have for that night, and she was intensely curious. Maybe they could have dinner together first, or go for a romantic, moonlit walk through the park afterward, or...

"Hi Tommy!" she greeted cheerfully, hugging her books to her chest and leaning against the locker next to his.

"Oh, hey Kim," he replied, "Do you know where Trini is? I haven't seen her yet today."

Feeling a little bit annoyed by the question, Kimberly tried to remember if Tommy had any classes with Trini or might be involved in any group projects with her, or if he might have any reason at all to be asking about her best friend today. Maybe, she thought hopefully, he wanted Trini's advice for his romantic date tonight. "I just got here, so I haven't run into her yet. Why?"

"Do you think she'd go to the dance with me if I asked her?"

"What?" The shrill, angry outburst was out of her mouth before she could even think to glare at him. But the flash of anger was quickly replaced by a deep, melancholy heartache. "Tommy, you asked me a week ago... You don't want to go with me anymore?"

"Kim... I can't lie about my feelings anymore. Trini's the one I want to go with, not you," he explained gently.

Kimberly felt roughly as if her heart had just cracked in two. "Oh, okay," she mumbled. She was too crushed inside to think of anything more witty or fitting to say. Clamping down on all the self-control she possessed, she forced a very pleasant tone and added, "Well I hope she says yes." She did not say it out loud, but every fiber of her being wanted to add, "And then rips your heart out. Or lets you get hit by a bus. Or pushes you off a handy skyscraper."

"Thanks, Kim. You're the best!" He flashed a smile so brilliant it made her broken heart shatter into a thousand tiny pieces, and then he left her there, just like that, looking entirely too pleased with himself.

When he was gone, she let her restraint go and seethed. How could Tommy do this to her? Did Trini even know this had been going on? She decided that, yes, Trini probably knew. Trini was nothing if not perceptive. Maybe that was why she had made herself scarce this morning... in the hopes that Tommy would get over whatever this new obsession with her was and go back to Kimberly, where he belonged.

That had to be it... but the only way to find out for sure would be to find Trini and ask. "I'd better get looking," she said aloud, as if announcing it somehow made her quest more real – or more legitimate. But even as she set out on her search, she was aware of a niggling kernel of doubt in the back of her mind, a nasty, jealous little 'what if?' that was convinced that Trini had somehow deliberately lured Tommy away from her.

_I'm going to find her before I start making accusations_, Kimberly repeated mentally, over and over like a mantra, as she struggled for calm and understanding. _But I swear to God, Trini, if you seduced my boyfriend behind my back, I am going to kill you!_

-x-

By lunchtime it was obvious that Trini was deliberately avoiding her, and Kimberly was furious. She had been looking for Trini all morning, but it was almost as if she had vanished without a trace. She had not been in her first period class, which she shared with Kimberly, and quiet questioning revealed that she had not been in any of her other morning classes, either. Kim hoped Trini realized that such a conspicuous absence after a strange turn of events was making her look mighty suspicious.

Kim ate her lunch quickly and without even indulging in her customary gossip sessions with her friends. She was determined to find Trini and get to the bottom of this mess as quickly as possible; after all, the dance was tonight, and she wanted her date back before then.

She was just as determined to avoid running into Tommy, and therefore giving him another opportunity to stomp on the shards of her shattered heart, so she took a detour past the library on her way back to her locker... and ran into Billy instead. He was just coming out of the library, having no doubt spent his lunch period working on homework or some new scientific project of his.

For an instant she felt a flash of hope: maybe he knew where Trini was! Maybe she had even been helping him this morning, and that was why she had missed her classes.

"Hello, Kimberly," he greeted. He seemed a little preoccupied, but no more than usual, really.

"Hi Billy!"

What followed next was a string of long, complicated words that probably _somehow _fit together into a coherent sentence, although Kimberly had no idea what that somehow might be. She stared blankly for a moment, blinked, and finally managed a, "What?"

"You seem to have been adversely affected by an unpleasant occurrence today," he reiterated.

It only made slightly more sense this time around. She might have loved him like the nerdy younger brother she never had, but she _hated _trying to translate Billy without help, especially when her day was already going so, so wrong. "Uh, well, yeah," she muttered. 'Unpleasant occurrence'? She would definitely call Tommy's actions and Trini's mysterious disappearance 'unpleasant', even if she hadn't quite managed to process the rest of Billy's observation yet.

Completely ignoring the fact that Kimberly would ordinarily have liked to tell him what had gone wrong, Billy asked, "Are you aware of Trini's schedule for today? I have been unable to locate her effectively since early this morning, and there is something I would like to ask her..."

Kimberly nearly twitched with anger. What was it about today that everything was all about Trini? Had everybody just up and forgotten that she had feelings, too?

"No," she snapped, at the end of her patience. "I don't know where she is. I've been looking for her all day, and I can't find her."

"Well, if you come across her later, please inform her that I wish to speak with her as soon as possible and that it is of the utmost importance."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to tell her," she replied, her tone betraying her insincerity. _Right after I ask her a few questions of my own..._

She made her way all the way down the hall and to her locker without further incident. She exchanged her morning supplies for the books for her afternoon classes and was just starting to let herself relax when she caught sight of Jason approaching. _Oh no._

"Hey, Kim," he began.

Before he could say anything else, she slammed her locker shut and bit out, "No, I do not know where Trini is. Don't even ask."

Her vicious tone made him grimace slightly. "Sorry I asked. But it's not like her to miss this many classes," he explained. "I was starting to worry about her. I thought you might know if she got sick and went home, or something."

"Not that anyone ever told me," she told him, managing not to sound too bitter.

"Wow, Kim, what happened to you this morning?"

She wanted to be offended by such a stupid question, but his tone was all concern and that made it difficult to be angry with him. And it didn't _sound _like a setup to ask about Trini again...

"Tommy dumped me this morning, okay?" she said miserably, refusing to look him in the eye. While he wasn't exactly the _last _person she wanted to discuss this with, she didn't really feel like talking about it right now, in the middle of the hallway. "He wanted to go to the dance with Trini instead."

Jason's expression shifted several times during her brief explanation – and one of those expressions looked promisingly like a desire to rip Tommy's head off – before he finally managed to respond coherently. "That is really weird. Zack did the same thing to Angela today, and he wouldn't stop talking about Trini all morning," he said at last. "It seemed stupid to just dump Angela after she finally agreed to go with him, and I would never have guessed he was into Trini that way..."

"Wait, why aren't _you _asking about Trini?"

"I already did," he pointed out. "Well, you answered me before I could ask. You don't know where she is, remember?"

Kim glared at him. It really wasn't necessary for him to be so dumb and so right at the same time. "Yeah, but pretty much every boy I've talked to today -" Okay, so that amounted to Billy and Tommy, since she had been carefully avoiding every member of the male species after the surprise breakup before class. "- has been all starry-eyed and babbling about wanting to go to the dance with Trini. You're not. What's wrong with you?"

"Shouldn't we be worrying about what's wrong with _them_?"

"What do you mean?"

"How long has Zack been trying to get Angela to go on a date with him? And then she actually says yes and he dumps her at the last minute to go with Trini, when he could have asked her at any time. And Tommy goes and does the same thing to you, on the very same day."

"Don't remind me," Kim groaned.

Jason sighed. "Don't you think there's anything weird about that?"

"You mean, do I think there's anything weird about my best friend stealing my boyfriend and possibly other girls' boyfriends, too?"

"Kim, you know Trini wouldn't do that," Jason insisted.

"Yeah, well obviously she did," Kim retorted angrily.

"I think we should talk to Trini – and Tommy and Zack, too – before we jump to any conclusions about that."

They glared at each other for a long moment, unwilling to fight, but not willing to back down, either.

"I have to freshen up before class," Kimberly said finally, in a rather pathetic attempt to excuse herself from a situation that had quickly gone from annoying to beyond frustrating. Why couldn't someone just take her side for once today? No doubt her hair and makeup could use a touch-up after the rough start to her day.

"I'll talk to Billy about this. Maybe he'll have some idea -"

"I already did. He's acting kind of weird, too. Weirder than normal, I mean. I wonder if maybe one of his experiments went haywire again..." She thought back suddenly to the time she had spent a day in Billy's body as a result of a malfunction in one of his machines, and shuddered with distaste. It hadn't occurred to her earlier, but she supposed it was possible he had gotten Zack and Tommy involved in some new mess. If that was the case... it didn't make Tommy's actions hurt any less, but she was glad it at least wasn't her brain being messed up this time. "You have class with him next period, right? Why don't you ask him about that?"

"You got it. I'll let you know what I find out."

"Thanks, Jason." She actually managed to smile at him as they went their separate ways. It was comforting to know that at least one of her friends had not lost his mind overnight. Too bad Tommy wasn't the sane one...

She only had a few hours left before the dance to get things back to normal. If any part of her plans could be salvaged in the first place. Kimberly sighed morosely and headed for the women's restroom.

One glance in the mirror was enough to tell her that her hair was, indeed, a mess, and that her makeup needed to be touched up, too. She sighed and set to work, conscious of the fact that she had only a few minutes to work before she had to get to her next class. She glanced over her shoulder once, overcome by the strange feeling that she wasn't alone...

"Kimberly."

She jumped a mile at the sudden sound of her friend's voice, nearly messing up her makeup beyond repair in the process. She whirled, and sure enough, there was Trini. She looked roughly as if she had seen a ghost. "Trini! I've been looking for you all day!"

"Shh, not so loud," Trini cautioned, looking around warily. "You can't let anyone know that I'm hiding in here."

"You're going to be in trouble anyway after missing all these classes," Kim pointed out. "And do you mind telling me what is going on?" She might be mad as all get out, but Trini was still her best friend. And Kimberly knew it would take something serious to get Trini to skip all her classes and spend her day hiding in the bathroom. "Are you okay?"

"Something really weird is going on, Kimberly," Trini said. Kim wondered if she realized how irritatingly cryptic she was being.

"Yeah, I noticed that."

"I'm serious," Trini went on, her voice low and urgent. "Something is not right today. The boys are acting all weird..."

"Before we get into how totally weird it is that oh my God, boys like you, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," came the hesitant reply. Trini was obviously bothered by what she considered utterly bizarre behavior on the part of her friends, but Kimberly needed an answer and she needed it _now_.

Taking a deep breath and making every effort not to start shouting her frustration, Kimberly asked, "What I want to know is why, when I got to school today, _Tommy_ asked me if I thought you would go to the dance with him. _My_ boyfriend asked _me_ if _you_would go to the dance with him. Care to explain?"

Trini looked utterly taken aback. "He did _what_?"

"You heard me. Now _spill_. What on earth happened?"

"I... I have no idea, Kim. I can't even imagine why he would do something like that. He's always seemed so crazy about you!" Trini's apparently genuine confusion threw Kimberly for a loop; she had been so certain that Trini knew what was going on. The fact that she didn't was unsettling, to say the least. "But," Trini went on, "I have to tell you, it's not just Tommy acting weird. Everything was fine when I got here this morning, for all of about ten minutes. And then suddenly _Billy _was coming on to me – he tried to kiss me! - and I haven't the slightest idea why."

Well. He had certainly failed to mention _that_ little development when he said he couldn't find Trini. Doubly mindful now of what Jason had told her earlier about Zack's weird behavior, Kimberly gave her friend a skeptical look. "We both know Billy has been crushing on you for ages. So he finally worked up the courage to act on it," she said dismissively. "It can't be_ that _bad."

"Would I be hiding in the bathroom if it wasn't?"

"Trini..."

"We aren't just talking about an innocent little kiss here, Kim," Trini elaborated. "We're talking bad romance novel seduction attempts, here. He pinned me up against the wall, Kim. _Billy _just grabbed me, threw me against the wall, and tried to kiss me."

Kim's eyes went wide. "You've got to be kidding."

Trini shook her head. "I'm dead serious."

Kimberly mulled that over for a moment. Trini's story sounded far-fetched. She just couldn't picture Billy, of all people, doing something like that... but stranger things had happened (and had a distressing tendency to _keep _happening) over the course of her career as a Power Ranger. "Okay, so Billy finally made a move..."

"Kim, you know it's not just Billy acting weird. What about Tommy? And Zack, and -"

"Jason seemed normal enough earlier," Kim pointed out. "So it isn't all of the boys. Maybe one of Billy's experiments went wrong. Or maybe they're playing some sort of awful joke on you... or me." She was painfully aware that she was grasping at straws.

"I don't think they would joke like this, Kim. I have a feeling something else is behind this."

Something else... the only other option Kim could think of was Rita. "But why? What on earth would she hope to gain by making the boys fall in love with you?"

Trini gave her a hard, level look that told Kim she knew exactly what had been going through her head in the aftermath of Tommy's betrayal. "She could be trying to pit us against each other. She's always doing that, and this might not be any different, except that she's using the boys to make us fight."

Kimberly frowned at that, wanting to protest that she would never let something silly like a boy come between her and Trini. They had been friends for too long to let that happen... but she had to admit she had been ready to start screaming – or worse – when she thought Trini had secretly seduced Tommy. "Okay, so it's possible Rita's involved somehow, if this isn't just another case of one of Billy's experiments gone wrong. What are we going to do about it? Obviously hiding out in the bathroom all day isn't going to solve the problem..."

The bell blared loudly. So much for getting to class on time.

"Yeah, but I can't go out there if... if the guys are going to keep acting so weird," Trini protested. "I tried to talk to Zack about... what happened with Billy, but he was acting just as weird! I came in here to try to get away from it, so I could figure out what to do... but I just couldn't go to class with any of them right now."

Her voice filled with confidence she did not actually feel, Kimberly said, "Trini, we'll figure out what's going on and we'll fix it. I promise."

The sudden beeping from her communicator nearly made her wince. Glancing around to make sure they really were alone, Kim answered, "Yes, Zordon?"

-x-

Alarms were screaming when the two Rangers arrived at the Command Center. Trini and Kimberly barely had time to take stock of the situation before Alpha 5 raced past, fretting that, "Zordon! Jason, Tommy, and the others still aren't answering!"

The two girls exchanged worried glances before turning to face Zordon.

"What is it, Zordon?" Trini asked at the same time as Kimberly awkwardly explained, "The boys are probably all stuck in class right now." Neither of them was particularly keen to explain why they had not been held up in class like the boys, but Zordon did not seem very interested.

"Rita has sent the Love Bug monster to terrorize Angel Grove," he told them. They turned instinctively to the Viewing Globe, which was currently displaying video footage of an ugly, worm-like creature cavorting in the park.

"_That's _the Love Bug?" Distaste was evident in Kimberly's voice as she spoke.

"It is a very powerful and dangerous creature, capable of using magic spells to control the emotions of humans. You must proceed with caution."

Trini felt a knot of worry form in the pit of her stomach. Caution was probably about the last thing on Kimberly's mind right now. She would undoubtedly have put two and two together and arrived at the same conclusion as Trini: that Rita was behind their friends' strange behavior, and that the monster had indeed be-spelled the boys into favoring Trini over Kimberly. While she appreciated and sympathized with Kimberly's feelings on the matter, Trini recognized that now was not the time to rush blindly into battle.

"How do we fight it?" she asked. "If it can use magic to manipulate people..." The Power Rangers might be good, but they didn't have anything in their arsenal – at least that Trini was aware of – that could combat magic like that directly.

"The analysis isn't done yet," Alpha complained. "We won't know how dangerous it is until..."

"I'll take it," Kimberly volunteered. All eyes were on her almost immediately. It was unlike her to willingly jump into battle against a monster that might be described as 'gross' or 'icky', and yet that was exactly what she had done. Anger radiated from her in waves that were almost palpable. "I don't have to get close to take that sucker down if I use my Power Bow."

"Be careful," Trini admonished.

"I'll be okay," Kim promised. "You stay here with Alpha and finish up the analysis. Find its weak points and figure out where its power is coming from. I'll keep it busy so it doesn't mess things up for everyone else in town."

In spite of her reluctance, Trini had to agree to the plan. It was safer at this point not to send both of them into the line of fire, not when the monster could potentially take control of them, but they couldn't simply sit back and let the monster have its way with the town. One of them had to face it, and since Trini was the one that knew the Command Center's computer systems better, Kimberly would have to fight the monster. Alone.

Trini had a feeling this was not going to end well.

She kept that opinion to herself, turning to watch the Viewing Globe as Kimberly gave her morphing call and disappeared. The Pink Ranger appeared at the park a moment later, ready and more than willing to do battle with the offending monster. _Good luck_, Trini wished silently.

"Okay, Alpha, let's do this," she said, determination shining through the dark haze that had clouded much of her day. This was her chance to get her friends back to normal.

Alpha had already begun a preliminary analysis, so there was not much left to do but wait for the computers to finish processing. Even though she knew the process and the computer interface by heart and had both Alpha and Zordon there to help her make sense of it all, it felt odd to be doing the monster analysis without Billy. She thought back, with a vague sense of dread, to the appalling way he had acted that morning; it only made her more determined to succeed. She wasn't about to let Rita get away with messing with her friends.

Feeling listless, and a bit annoyed at listening in to Kimberly's taunting exchange of words with the monster, Trini pushed a few buttons and tried to come up with any angles to tackle that Alpha and Zordon had not already thought of. Already, the first printouts were beginning to emerge from the console.

It wouldn't be long now until she had the information they needed to destroy the Love Bug once and for all and, more importantly, break the spell it had placed on their friends. She silently willed the computer to work faster, even knowing that wishing and hoping would do no good. The barbed comments the monster was shouting at Kimberly were starting to get to Trini; she bristled at the implication that she was somehow less worthy of her peers' admiration than her friend, just because she was less popular and wasn't going steady with anyone at the moment, as if such trivial things could place a value on her as a person.

Unable to stand it any longer, Trini slammed her hands down onto the computer console and gave a shuddering sigh. As she leaned forward, her hair slipped over her shoulders to form a dark curtain that blocked out the Command Center around her. She drew several deep breaths, trying to calm herself. It was just a stupid monster. It was saying things deliberately intended to hurt her feelings and make her angry, to make her doubt Kimberly's friendship. Now was not the time to let Rita's shenanigans get to her. Right now she needed to help Alpha and Zordon find a way to free her friends from the Love Bug's spell.

Reminding herself of all these things only helped so much.

"Trini!" Alpha sounded alarmed. "Is something wrong?"

She didn't know what to tell him. How pathetic was she, that she was letting a monster get her all worked up? "I guess it just hurts that the guys... they only liked me like that because of a magic spell..."

"Oh, Trini," Alpha said sympathetically. "I like you! And I'm a robot. The spell can't affect me!"

Trini had to smile at his honesty. She had a feeling he at least mostly failed to comprehend the idea of romantic love, but somehow the little robot's declaration of affection made her feel better. "Thanks, Alpha."

Oblivious to the somber atmosphere of the Command Center, Kimberly's voice came over the comm link, "Ugh, Trini, this monster is _so gross_. What does a nasty old bug have to do with love, anyway?"

"Just keep it busy, Kim," Trini told her, somehow managing to sound calm and disaffected. "We're almost done with the analysis."

As if to reward her impatience, the computer finished spitting out information. The display readout was... alarming, to say the last. Tiny threads of energy connected the Love Bug to each of the other Power Rangers, and with each passing moment the number of threads – and the number of affected people – was growing.

"It's not a worm, it's a caterpillar," Trini observed quietly. "A silkworm."

"It is using energy threads to control the thoughts and feelings of humans," Zordon supplied. "Destroy the threads and the spell should be broken."

"But won't it just make more?"

"Indeed. It is imperative that the monster be destroyed as well."

"That's all fine and dandy," Kimberly said, sounding a bit shaken, "but this thing is covered in some sort of armor. I can't get through."

"Can you see any silk threads?" Trini asked, hoping against hope. If they could get help from the boys, she had no doubt they could beat any monster Rita threw at them. "If you break them -"

"I can't break what I can't see, Trini."

So much for that idea. Trini scanned the printouts furiously for another solution. Rita's monsters always had some stupid, but fatal flaw. She just had to find it and hope that she and Kimberly would be able to manipulate it to their advantage. The tidbit of information she needed was so briefly mentioned that she almost missed it. "Wait, that little heart shape on its chest is a weak point?"

"Yes. That is the only weak point in its hard outer shell. If you can penetrate it with one of your Power Daggers or Kimberly's arrows, the monster will die," Zordon elaborated.

"Did you get that, Kim?"

"Yeah." She sounded displeased. Trini glanced at the Viewing Globe in time to see Kimberly dodge out of the way of a massive glob of liquid silk that the monster lobbed at her. "I'll give it a shot."

Trini felt her heart constrict painfully; she hated leaving her best friend to fight one of Rita's monsters all alone. But of all the Power Rangers, Kimberly had the best chance at taking this one down, and the boys would be worse than useless right now, their minds preoccupied with Trini thanks to the spell. Unless... She turned to Zordon. "Would the spell still affect the guys if they left the school and came here? Would teleportation break the threads?"

"I am afraid not, Trini. The energy threads will remain attached no matter where they go, and anyone that goes near the monster will soon be infested as well. The Love Bug must be stopped before it brainwashes the entire town."

Silence descended upon the Command Center as Kimberly finally got an opening and took her shot. Trini flinched as Kimberly missed her mark by a scant half-inch. The monster knocked the next two attempts out of the air before they could even come close to hitting it, forcing the Pink Ranger to retreat.

"I... missed?" she asked, dumbfounded. "Trini, I can't hit it! This isn't going to work!"

Even as Zordon began to explain that Trini's Power Daggers could provide a necessary distraction that would allow Kimberly to make the final hit, Trini was morphing, letting the Power carry her to where she was needed. "Hang on, Kim, I'm on my way."

An instant later, the Yellow Ranger joined her comrade at the park. Her anger flared at the sight of the monster that had said such vicious things about her, but she kept it firmly in check. She needed to maintain her focus if she was going to be any help at all to Kimberly.

"Okay, Kim, I'm here. We'll use my daggers as a distraction," she explained. "I'll get it off guard, and you do the rest. This monster is going down!"

"What if I miss again?" Kimberly asked, her voice quiet.

"You won't," Trini assured her. Kim actually sounded worried; Trini had every confidence in her friend's abilities. After all, it was love at stake, and Kimberly didn't take romance lightly.

The Pink Ranger took a moment to prepare herself, trusting Trini to warn her if the monster made an attempt to attack. But so far it seemed content to watch, its energy tendrils spreading ever outward like a disgusting web.

"Okay," Kimberly said at last. "Let's do this."

Trini nodded. With deliberate, careful slowness, Trini headed away from Kimberly. "You think I'm worthless, do you?" she muttered, not caring if the monster actually heard her. "I'll show you worthless." Louder, she added, "Ready, Kimberly?"

"Ready and waiting!" came the swift response.

"Alright, let's go!"

The monster expertly blocked each of Trini's daggers when she threw them, and responded by flinging gobs of silk at her, silk that burst into flame upon impact. She dodged fairly easily, although an awkward landing had her tumbling for a moment before she could regain her feet, but she missed seeing Kimberly's shot because of it.

For a long moment, nothing happened. Trepidation filling her, Trini looked over to where the Love Bug had been standing.

An arrow's shaft protruded from the center of the small, heart-shaped symbol on the monster's chest.

Kimberly managed to get out a victorious, "Ha!" before the monster exploded and a massive wave of energy bowled the two Rangers over. But their less than graceful finish didn't matter: the monster was dead and its spell was, hopefully, broken.

-x-

Jason knew he was doomed when Kimberly cornered him immediately after the final bell rang. He had been stuck in class and missed a message from the Command Center that afternoon, a fact which had been plaguing him all day. And although he knew that Kimberly had managed to defeat the monster on her own, and had somehow recovered Trini in the process, he was fully expecting a scolding for his absence.

But he wasn't expecting Trini's emotional well-being, rather than his failure to help defeat Rita's monster, to be the basis of that scolding.

"You have to talk to her," Kimberly concluded firmly, after giving him a rundown of what had happened that afternoon.

Not quite comprehending where this necessity had come from, he gave her a blank look.

"She's not happy with me right now. And Tommy, Zack, and Billy freaked her out this morning. And I don't think any of them could even look at her right now without dying of embarrassment. That leaves you," she added sternly, lest he think to argue with her.

"Me," he repeated dumbly.

"Yes, you. Go. Talk to her. Do _something_."

He knew better than to argue with Kimberly when she had her mind set on something, so he just nodded and promised to talk to Trini before the day was over.

As he watched Kimberly stalk away, no doubt looking for Tommy, he got the sudden impression that he had gotten off easy. Tommy was the one that had better watch out... Deciding that Tommy could probably take care of himself and that it would be a bad idea to ignore a direct order from Kimberly, Jason went in search of Trini.

She wasn't in any of her usual haunts around the school or Youth Center, a fact that left him as perplexed as he had been by her disappearance that morning. Kimberly hadn't explained what had happened, only that it had left Trini feeling upset and practically inconsolable. Whatever it was, it had to be big if she was hiding because of it. Trini usually tackled her problems head-on.

He would be a bad friend indeed if he didn't at least try to help her work through this. So he found himself at her house in short order when his search failed to turn her up anywhere else. Her mother answered the door and informed him that while Trini was home, she had asked to be left alone. She didn't want to let him in to 'bother' her daughter, but finally relented when he protested that he just wanted to ask Trini a quick question and then he would leave her alone.

He felt a small amount of trepidation as he headed toward her bedroom – Trini could be very scary when she was upset – but he pushed it aside. She was always there when he needed a friend, or even just someone to talk to. He would do no less for her.

Besides, he kind of liked the idea of being the one she could turn to, no matter what.

-x-

Trini was curled up in the big, comfy chair beside her bedroom window, attempting to keep her mind focused on the book in her lap, when she heard the door open a crack. She didn't look up at the sound. If anything, it made her more determined to keep her eyes on the book... even if she hadn't actually read a word of it so far. "Look, Kim, I'm not going to change my mind."

"Hate to disappoint, but I'm not Kim."

That got her attention. "Jason? What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "You seemed upset after school today. I thought I'd stop by and see if you were okay."

She nodded. In other words, Kimberly had seen her beat a hasty retreat after her last couple of classes (which she dutifully attended in spite of the 'illness' she had suffered that morning), and sent him to check on her. While the interference was annoying - really, sending _another _boy to bother her? - she had to admit her admiration for her friend's tactics: Jason was one of the few people that could on occasion even out-stubborn Kimberly.

Uninvited, he took a seat opposite her, on her bed. She could tell he planned to stick around and be so unfailingly supportive and sweet that eventually she would come around and forget her bad mood. Clever. But that didn't mean she was going to make it easy for him.

"Jase... I really don't want to talk about it."

"You don't have to talk about it," he replied. "But you shouldn't have to sit here by yourself and mope about it, either."

"I'm not moping," she protested.

"Look, whatever happened today..."

"It's fine," she insisted. "I'm feeling better already. I just needed a little time to myself." And she still did. It had been a long and trying day, and she had hoped to avoid being accosted by her friends again until tomorrow, though she wasn't about to tell him that. Not when he was trying to make her feel better.

He gave her a dubious look. "You're sure you're okay."

She nodded, slowly.

"Then come to the dance with me tonight."

She was blushing. She knew her face was probably beet red by now, and there was nothing she could do about it. Her mind kept replaying the events of the morning... but substituting Jason for her other friends. The idea of Jason - big, strong, sexy, _gorgeous _Jason - asking her to the dance and trying to kiss her, right in the middle of the school hallway... okay, maybe in some out of the way corner... it was just too much.

She struggled to shy away from that idea, as pleasant as it was. Thoughts like that were dangerous.

Especially because she and Jason were alone together in her bedroom.

That realization didn't help at all.

She settled for reminding herself that she had been friends with him for years. Going to a dance together wouldn't have to change any of that. But it was hard to ignore the little voice in her head that pointed out that while she had gone to dances with him before, it had always been with a group of friends. Never _together_. "Jason, I can't..." she stammered at last, thoroughly embarrassed.

Oblivious to the less than innocent path her thoughts had taken, Jason frowned. "Why not?"

She scrambled to find a believable excuse. "You noticed that Zack and Tommy and Billy weren't acting normal this morning, right?" she asked, eliciting a cautious nod. "Well, Zack and Tommy dumped Angela and Kim, saying they were going to go to the dance with me instead, and Billy..." she trailed off, unable to finish that thought without revisiting dangerous territory.

Trini took a deep breath and set her book aside before bravely crossing the room to sit beside Jason. "It turns out that Rita made a monster that was messing with their emotions. It used a magic spell to make them fall in love with me, so that Kim and I would fight," she told him. For the first time, it occurred to her to wonder if Jason had been lucky enough to escape the monster's spell, or if he had been affected just like the others. She had not been brave enough to look that closely at the readouts in the Command Center and decided she still wasn't ready to ask that question. Instead she forged ahead with her explanation. "When Kim destroyed the monster, the spell was broken... but I think the damage has been done. It would be really awkward if I went to the dance now."

Jason did not seem appeased by her words. "But it's not your fault any of this happened."

"No, it's not," she agreed. "But that doesn't mean our friends - or their jilted lovers - are going to be very quick to forget about it."

"But... how can they hold it against you when you didn't do it and had no control over it?"

She felt a stab of sympathy for his bafflement. Almost without thinking about it, she slipped her hand into his, letting their fingers interlace. "Kim and Angela... they're girls. It doesn't have to make sense. The boys... I thought I'd save them a little extra trouble if I could."

"Kim's already forgiven you," he pointed out. "And if Billy and Zack haven't died of embarrassment yet, it's a fair bet they'll survive."

"So that leaves Tommy and Angela. Tommy's going to get it from Kim... I'll be surprised if he escapes in one piece," she said, trying not to giggle at the mental image of small, petite Kimberly completely intimidating the much bigger, stronger Tommy. "But Angela... I don't know if she'll ever give Zack another chance after what happened. It wasn't his fault any more than it was mine, but..."

"You don't want to ruin whatever chance he might still have with her," Jason concluded.

She nodded. "Exactly. There'll be other dances. It's not the end of the world if I miss one."

"I'm sure we can find something else to do..."

She blinked. We? For some reason, she had assumed he wouldn't stick around for very long. He should have had better things to do than cheer her up after their friends acted like idiots. "It's that important to you?"

He looked slightly surprised. "You're a friend. Of course you're important to me."

That... wasn't the question she had asked at all. In fact, it left her feeling slightly flabbergasted. What was he saying? Was she reading too much into it? And where was Kimberly when she needed a translator?

Jason looked vaguely chagrined, as if he had just inadvertently revealed a secret.

Trini stared at him for a moment, perplexed by this latest turn of events. _Come on, Trini, get your head back on straight. This is _Jason_. He doesn't like you like _that_. Right?_

Finally recovering himself, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Come on, there's nothing you feel like doing tonight?"

She shrugged. "I hadn't really thought about it."

"So, you definitely don't want to go to the dance," he said thoughtfully. "How about we catch a movie instead?"

She glanced down at their linked hands and smiled. "I can probably handle that."

-x-

Tommy very nearly had a heart attack when he rounded the corner into the Youth Center and found Kimberly waiting for him. He had known he would have to face her at some point, but he had no explanation for his behavior earlier in the day and he had even less of an idea how to make up for his idiocy. It seemed a very real possibility that she might simply refuse to forgive him. And it would be his own damn fault.

"Hi, Kim," he said cautiously, well aware that she had waited, arms crossed and foot tapping, for him to make the first move.

"Hi, Tommy," she returned, her voice icy.

There wasn't much that could make Tommy scared enough to turn tail and run; the sight of Kimberly, utterly furious with him, almost did it. She would have to be less angry with him eventually, right?

"I think we need to have a talk," she said.

He agreed, although her frigid tone made him even more nervous. He had made a huge mistake that morning, and now he had absolutely no doubt that she was going to make him pay for it.

"I'm waiting," she prompted.

Waiting for what, he wondered. Probably groveling. Pleading, at the very least.

"Look, Kim, about what happened this morning..."

"I'm listening."

That confirmed it. She was deliberately torturing him. Tommy sighed and resigned himself to his fate.

"I'm sorry. I'm an idiot and I never should have said those things to you. I don't know what came over me -" He would have kept going, but he caught sight of the grin that threatened to spread across Kimberly's face. He frowned. "You know something I don't?"

"Maybe," she admitted. "But it was nice to hear you apologize anyway."

"All right," he said, generously ignoring the fact that she was being so cruel to him. "Tell me. Did I just completely lose my mind this morning, or..." He cut himself off, realization dawning. "Rita. It was Rita, wasn't it?"

She couldn't keep from smiling at his expense any longer, and nodded. "Yeah."

"What did she _do_?"

Kimberly actually _giggled_. "She put you under a spell, like Sleeping Beauty or something, only I had to kill a monster to snap you out of it."

Tommy boggled. "Did you just compare me to a fairy tale _princess_?"

"That's beside the point."

"You defeated a monster all by yourself?"

"Well, Trini might have helped some."

"Does that mean you're still willing to go to the dance with me?" he asked. He knew it was pushing his luck to give her an easy opening like that, but he had to at least try. He didn't want his plans to amount to nothing because of yet another monster.

Kimberly gave him a playful, if skeptical look. "But I thought you wanted to go with Trini..."

"I already apologized for that!" he groaned. "Cut me some slack, will you? I was under a spell..."

She patted him on the arm, and didn't complain when he wrapped that arm around her waist and held her close. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault you were an idiot. I forgive you."

As Kim leaned close against him and slipped her arms around him for a hug, Tommy thanked his lucky stars for small mercies.

It only took Kimberly another second to set him straight on that, too: "Oh, and Tommy? If you ever say anything that stupid again, I may have to push you in front of a bus."


End file.
